February 23, 2022
A program which aims to develop leadership skills has fostered an unusual friendship between a Coolabunia dairy farmer and a Torres Strait Islander changemaker.
Former South Burnett Regional councillor Damien Tessmann was sponsored by Dairy Australia to do the Australian Rural Leadership Program run by the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation.
The fifth-generation Coolabunia dairy farmer didn’t expect that by doing the course he would end up best mates with Bernie Keenan, whose life experiences are literally worlds apart.
The pair are about the same age but that’s really all they had in common before they both began the ARLP course.
Bernie comes from Mabuiag Island in the western Torres Strait but grew up on Horn Island and did his high schooling at St Augustine’s College in Cairns.
He’s been employed by a number of government departments over the years but is now the program manager for the Gur A Baradharaw Kod Torres Strait Sea and Land Council (GBK) on Thursday Island.
He’s fluent in English, Torres Strait Creole and is learning the traditional language of the western islands, Kalaw Lagaw Ya.
Damien, in comparison, is South Burnett born and bred, and served on the South Burnett Regional Council for eight years. These days he works for Brisbane City Council but gets back to Coolabunia as often as he can to help out on the family’s farm.
But both men have an interest in politics, but as you would expect their interests lie in completely different directions.
GBK is a peak body representing 21 separate Native Title groups in the Torres Strait. From July 1, it will become the recognised Native Title service provider for the Torres Strait, taking over from the Torres Strait Regional Authority.
Bernie decided to do the ARLP course to grow his networks and help achieve positive change for the Torres Strait.
One of his goals is more autonomy for the region, which is currently split into two Local Government areas and finds itself controlled by decision-making in Brisbane and Canberra which often has no relevance locally. He’s also a strong advocate for Constitutional recognition for Indigenous peoples.
Damien, on the other hand, has already tried his hand at politics, but of a more Conservative nature. He stood for the National Party at the 2006 State election for the seat of Maryborough, where he achieved a 10 per cent swing but it wasn’t enough to unseat the sitting candidate.
He’s also been the Queensland president of the Young Nationals, the LNP’s Wide Bay regional chairman and a policy adviser for two MPs.
He did the ARLP course after becoming involved in the fight against $1-a-litre milk which was destroying the dairy industry. He has an interest in agripolitics with a desire to bring the different parts of the industry closer together.
The ARLP course consists of four parts. Initially there was a Zoom meeting, followed by a trip to Canberra and the bushfire areas of southern NSW. Part 3 was a trip to the Kimberley in Western Australia.
Along the way, Damien and Bernie met on a bus and started talking …
Damien learned that Bernie’s grandmother, Betty Foster, had been evacuated to Cherbourg during World War II when she was four years old, along with her two younger siblings.
They were “mixed race” and it seems the government at the time did not trust them to be close to the front lines.
She could well have stayed at Cherbourg but her father was sent to work in the canefields in Bundaberg where he managed to earn enough money to take his family back to the Torres Strait.
When Damien learned of the Cherbourg connection, he suggested Bernie come and stay with him, visit The Ration Shed and learn more about Cherbourg.
Bernie, in turn, offered to host Damien on Thursday Island.
Damien travelled up to TI late last year and spent a week with Bernie, experiencing a totally different culture, traditional food and learning about the history and people.
This week, it was Bernie’s turn to experience life in the South Burnett, visit Cherbourg and milk cows on a Coolabunia dairy farm.
“It was a really good opportunity to have Bernie in the dairy and see how I grew up,” Damien said.
The pair will be heading down to Canberra on Saturday for Part 4 of of the ARLP course ahead of graduating on March 10 and joining an elite group of alumni.
“It’s a great program,” Damien said.
“If it wasn’t for this I would never have met someone like Bernie and be able to spend time on Thursday Island.”
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